An Ohio mayor is facing serious allegations after an openly gay police officer charged that she used a series of anti-gay epithets toward him and complained when his partner visited him at the station.

As The Columbus Dispatch is reporting, Pomeroy Officer Kyle Calendine says Mayor Mary McAngus has used the word "queer," among other slurs, to describe him in official discussions. Calendine also charges that McAngus filed complaints when his partner appeared at the police station, even though other officers' spouses make routine visits.

“She was even in the hiring process and she seemed fine,” Calendine, who was hired as a part-time officer last fall, told local news channel WSAZ 3. “A few weeks later...she finds out I'm gay and tries to get me fired because she doesn't like who I am outside of work.”

Backing Calendine's claims was Pomeroy Police Chief Mark E. Proffitt, who submitted a six-page sworn statement to the Pomeroy Village Council saying that McAngus's behavior could invite a discrimination lawsuit.

“She stated ‘I don’t like a Queer working for the Village, I might be old-fashioned, but I don’t like it.’” Proffitt wrote in the statement, according to the Dispatch.

As Gay Star News points out, Town Administrator Paul Helman echoed those sentiments, writing in a signed statement, "Mary began telling me that we had a gay guy working in the police department and she had to run off Kyle’s boyfriend."

Pomeroy Village Council President Jackie Welker was mostly tight-lipped about the allegations, but nonetheless issued a statement which was quoted by the Gallipolis Daily Tribune as reading:

“Concerning the allegations of workplace discrimination between the Mayor of the Village of Pomeroy and a Pomeroy Police Officer, Village Council has no comment at the moment pending further investigation. To that extent, we as a Village do not support discrimination of any kind to any persons based on sexual orientation, race, gender, national origin, age, familial status, disability or any other protected class.”

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LGBT Discrimination In The Workplace

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A Missouri-based gay music teacher at an area Catholic school was recently dismissed from his job after authorities learned of his plans to wed his male partner of 20 years in New York.
Al Fischer was reportedly fired Feb. 17, 2012 from St. Ann Catholic School in north St. Louis County, where he'd worked for four years. Fischer did not comment directly about his dismissal, but instead referred to an email sent to his students' parents after he was terminated.
"A family conversation about whether or not justice was served here could be a great thing," he wrote. "I do not want the lesson from this for the kids to be, 'Keep your mouth shut, hide who you are or what you think if it will get you in trouble.'"
Fischer's partner, Charlie Robin, told the paper that the couple's relationship was not a secret at the school, and that Fischer was only fired after a representative of the St. Louis Archdiocese overheard him talking to co-workers about his wedding plans.
Read the full story here.